If he couldn't kill his old opponent, even if it was considered a victory, that Divine King could still say he lost.
With the strength of a Divine King, as long as they aren't killed, those Deities can continue to live like nothing happened after a period of recovery. At that time, if the Divine King supported by Zhou Tian didn't die, no matter how battered he was, he would likely regain the ability to fight his opponent after some rest.
Conversely, although it seemed that the Divine King could win, if he couldn't kill his opponent, even a victory would bring losses that would render previous actions fruitless.
For the opportunity to kill his opponent, the Divine King sacrificed too much at the time.
To weaken his opponent's power, when deciding to execute that plan, he committed nearly thirty to forty percent of his forces to this battle. During the weakening process, the loss of the Divine King's forces was undeniable.
